Monday, December 4, 2017

thanksgiving

so after i returned from toronto
 a little snow fell.
 in the woods at the place i call home
 the snow has been little and not long staying
so far this winter
i have heard owls, but no coyotes,
and a strange murmuring of bird voices, coming ever so slowly
waxing and waning and 
ever louder until
overhead i heard a honk, like a sneeze at a soft concert moment
then another but still the murmuring.
and then they were above me.
canada geese, locals, going over to trout lake
with no need to make much ruckus.
 we joined gracious friends for thanksgiving 
and ate delicious food, 
our ages from a college freshman to an elder of 99. 
hannah brought tyler home to see the north country and us.
despite headcolds, they requested to make paper,
hannah knows how, but tyler was new to the vat.
 above they are using square moulds made by britt quinlin the paperwright
from ottawa,
and below hannah uses a lee macdonald mould.
 hannah and elder dog gwen share some caring
gwen loves being with hannah.
 and after they left 
i felt so empty.
neki sent me her failed linen warp
(to make into paper)
 and carol sent me this beautiful card
for my birthday.
 here's the edition of blue jean paper 
(i couldn't get the color right, but it's very blue jeansy)
it's flying by means of jet plane
to bar harbor.
by the way, the little animals all,
except for the selkie, are spoken for.
perhaps selkie will find you?!

11 comments:

  1. IT MAY BE Manhattan at 2:32 in the morning of December 5th, and I may be three flights up in and old apartment, but now I'm In Canada with you and your family. What a miracle this time and place traveling is.

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  2. michelle, you would be 30 miles south of the canadian border in new york's north country, but still welcome!

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  3. everything's so beautiful around your place,great to have a white thanksgiving.
    hannah is her mother's daughter:) the confidence in handling the moulds!


    that blue paper made my heart skip.
    ( good you didn't miss my home grown parsley)

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  4. neki, the parsley made me feel like some sort of plant smuggler! blue jean paper is always so comfortable, like a good pair of old jeans (before elastic additions). hannah (and her brother) made paper and books with me for years. she's a fine knitter, and has way better bookbinding skills than me.
    mo, the light, though short this lime of year, illuminates such beauty. of course the north country is so photogenic.

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  5. Ouch!! Neki's linen warp made me grit my teeth. Love your snowy pictures but you can keep the white stuff. Nice to see Hannah and her fella.

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  6. jean, neki's warp will need a bit of chopping up before i try it in the beater, but hopefully it will make fine paper.

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  7. fiona, practicing gratitude, trying to keep it in mind

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  8. susan, well thank you, i appreciate your words.

    ReplyDelete

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